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 Swim
Comments: Once the horn went off, most folks dove forward and started swimming. Having watched the first wave go off only four minutes ahead of us, most folks gave up swimming after only a few strokes and did the "run in the water, but move your arms like you're really swimming" stroke. It is literally about 400 yards of waist deep water. Starts to get a little deep before the first turn, then the real swimming begins. Knew right away that my swim training stunk, and it felt like it. Since everyone was running in the water about the same pace, we were still bunched up at the first turn. Not sure why I stopped each time I got whacked (I didn't during IMAZ - which was much more physical). Guess, I was just under prepared. Surprised to see a could of swimmers from the group behind me before I hit the second turn. They were moving FAST. Did an ok job of rounding the second buoy, though I did get a little hung up on the anchor rope. Shore was to my left (where I don't site very well), so I tried to sight off of a few athletes swimming to my right, and trusted they knew where they were going. When I did look to my left, the sun was just breaking over the trees, and I felt completely blinded. Wasn't sure where the turn was, really having trouble finding the last buoy (red). Saw a police boat up ahead, with really bright blue flashing lights that was easy to see. Knew it was near the final turn, so I just used that to sight, every eight strokes or so. I kept a really good line on it, and with the current, was making good time. Before long, I felt like I was a bit by myself. Stopped to tread water, and use my hand to shield myself from the sun, and noticed I'd swam about 200 yards past the turn buoy. It also make for a farther angle to get back to shore for me. Figure I added 5-7 minutes to my swim from that mistake. Made it to shore and began the VERY LONG run to T1. What would you do differently?: Let's see, I think making more than 3 trips to the pool for training would be a good start. I could use that time to become more confident with my swimming, and practice stuff like sighting, and all. I didn't get pulled from the water or need any rest breaks, so not going to call this a bad swim, but definitely below average.  Transition 1
Comments: The one nice thing about having a quarter mile run into T1, is they put an aide station along the way. Don't remember if I grabbed anything, I don't think so. There was a very rough paved path just before entering T1. Seriously hurt my feet crossing it. Made it to my bike without much incident. Still bikes around, me, but I was a bit surprised at how many had gone out. Knew my swim was worse than I feared. Figured I might as well wear the socks since I'm already behind. But my gel flask in back pocket, glasses on, helmet on.... Glasses off, they were completely fogged. Knew I'd need them for the bike with my contacts, so I just held them with my teeth and made my run to the mount line. I was 217 heading into T1, and was 195 coming out. That is free speed!!! Probably would have moved up a bit more, if I'd skipped the socks.... What would you do differently?: Skip the socks. Other than that, keep practicing.  Bike
Comments: Primary goal for this race was to average better than 18mph on the bike. I've only done it once. While I skimped on swim training, I didn't skip bike workouts. Plus, I've dropped 45 pounds this year, so figured that had to show. Wheels definitely felt fast. It had rained all week leading up to this event, so I never got to test out the race wheels. Also, I knew that I didn't want to treat this as a Z2 training ride... I wanted to push the pace and set a personal speed record. I just did the math and realized I passed 80 people on the bike. Writing that down just seems stunning, but realistically, I knew I was passing a lot of folks. I just took them one at a time. Saw someone ahead of me, and dug deep to pass. Saw the next one, and did the same. For most of the event, there was just about always someone up ahead of me to chase/pass. I did get passed a few times... mostly while on the first loop of the course, by a few folks on their second lap. Most had their names on their butt's (pro's/sponsered riders) I think only 1 person from my age group passed me on the bike. There was one section of the bike course that was very fast, but unfortunately, these were in the area where the roads were very poor. Many pot holes and loose gravel. I was on the brakes both times down this section. Garmin showing speeds through here of 35mph. I had to stand to climb a few times... once, I was in too big of a gear, but managed to dig it out. I had been slowly sipping on my gatorade the entire time. Small swallows at regular intervals. I think I paced this very well. Got to mile 10, and decided I'd need some gel soon. Figured I'd grab after passing a few folks I had my eye on. Suddenly, I hear the sound of my gel flask hitting the ground. I was having so much fun passing folks, I didn't want to stop, and go back looking for it. Figured since this was only a 25 mile bike course (no aide stations) my gatorade would be enough to get me to the run course, where I could pick up whatever nutrition was offered. Almost bit it coming into the finish line. Couldn't decide if I should clip out, or remove feet and leave shoes attached. opted to clip out, but almost ran into another athlete at the dismount line... fortunately, we didn't touch. Forgot to mention, I kept my shoes loose when I put them on in T1, thinking I could run faster with them that way. I figured I'd tighten them up as I got started... Plan worked, except that due to my glasses being fogged up so bad, I couldn't balance them in my teeth, and tighten my shoes... ended up leaving them loose for the entire ride. What would you do differently?: Not sure here... Continue training, and buy my own set of nice wheels. Wow, what a difference this was. Of everything that happened at this event, I'm really proud of the progress I made on the bike. Kind of blew myself away. Think I need a bento box or something to hold my gel flask.... hip pocket on tri suit is unreliable. Spoke to someone else after the race that had a similar occurrence once upon a time. Transition 2
Comments: Made my clip-clop way to my rack to drop off my bike. Unfortunately, the person next to me put his bike in the wrong way, so I had a little trouble squeezing my bike in. Shoes on fairly quickly, grabbed bib, and visor, and off I went. What would you do differently?: Be more decisive on leaving shoes clipped to pedals. I know I can do it.  Run
Comments: Ran hard. Knew I wanted to leave everything on the course. Just grabbed water at aide stations. Never grabbed a gatorade. I passed two folks from my age group early into the run. Turns out, they would be the last two AG folks I'd pass. I was still passing many folks, and kept sneaking peeks at my watch. Decided I'd try to hang on to an 8:30 pace for this run. Other than gatorade at all the aide stops, the third stop had pretzels, and a few other things. Mouth was so getting dry and I couldn't imagine eating a pretzel I guess if you needed the salt, they'd be great, but the weather was so nice, didn't see any reason to take. I was looking for gel packs, but never saw any... at least none that I recognized. I was a bit worried that I was going to run out of calories, especially as I had been anaerobic for some time now. Might have helped a little, but I really felt good for most of the run. As I neared the end of the first loop/finish line, kept a look-out for wife/kids. Never saw them. Really hoping to run the finish line with the kiddo's, considering this was Father's Day and all. Really didn't have much energy for a big push at the end, most of the folks I was running near were only completing their fist loop. I was the only one that turned off to finish. Dissapointed family wasn't around to see it, but still very proud of myself for having such a good day. How good, this was a new 10k PR for me, by almost 3 full minutes, and on a hilly gravel trail course. Very excited for this. What would you do differently?: If I'm going to take all my nutrition on the bike, I need to have a back-up in T2...just in case. I still think the plan was good, just that I didn't have a back-up when I lost my nutrition. Need to investigate a small bento box that will hold my gel flasks. Post race
Warm down: Grabbed a gatorade, bottle of water, ice-cold wet towel and went to look for family. Had to have a volunteer open my gatorade, as I couldn't get the plastic off. Totally spent. After still not finding family, headed back to T2, after seeing folks leaving with their bikes, to get my recovery drink from my dry goods bag. Packed up my stuff and headed for the car. Once I got to car, grabbed phone and called wife, who was by now at the finish with the kids looking for me. The too were sad to have missed me. Grabbed some finish line food pasta, meatballs, and salad, all fairly good and ate while kids played on bounce house and made crafts. From there, met up with JC's wife, who had now arrived and cheered him up for his first sub 5 hour HIM. What limited your ability to perform faster: Swim. My swim was awful. need to work on it for Sept HIM, and continue improving on bike and run. Weight down 45 pounds for this race.... I'd like to drop another 10-15 for HIM. Event comments: Really a well done event. I understand Rev3 had some issues with the inaugural event, but from all I saw, they paid very close attention to correcting those issues this year. I really would have preferred an aide station for the bike course, but understand that resources are somewhat limited. I prefer to have a beer at the finish, but understand licensing for such thing can bee tricky. I loved the finisher Visor. May be my favorite finisher gift ever. The long-sleeve cotton t-shirt kind of sucks though. I don't even like the "flesh colored" color. Still, I am seriously considering doing this event next year... maybe even the HIM, though can't imagine the temps/conditions being a perfect as they were today. Last updated: 2014-05-03 12:00 AM
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United States
REVOLUTION3 Triathlon
75F / 24C
Sunny
Overall Rank = 105/295
Age Group = 45-49
Age Group Rank = 7/19
Didn't start pulling gear for this event until almost 8pm the night before the event. I rode with JC the day before to drop off the Bike in T1 and pick up our race packet. I was able to borrow race wheels (50mm Planet X) from SJ. Offered me his Zipp 808's, but with a week to go before the event, I didn't know what the wind conditions would be, and didn't want to risk it on something as unfamiliar as those.
Finally fell asleep at almost 10PM with a 3:00 AM wake-up set.
I usually set a secondary alarm for these early wake-ups, just because I know myself, and know that I'm not a morning person. Turns out, this was a stroke of brilliance as I woke up at 3:25... both alarms blaring. Crazy that neither woke me or the Mrs., but hey, we're not morning people.
I had to be out the door by 3:50 to pick up JC on time, so with the late wake-up, I scratched off shower and hot eggs for breakfast. Settled on just an apple. Car was already packed from night before, the only delay of the morning was getting all of the body marking tattoo's that Rev3 gives out. They took forever to apply. My arm numbers were a bit smeared, so I touched them up with a sharpie, and was set to go. Made it to JC's house exactly on time, maybe a minute late.
No traffic at all for the hour drive to the event. I knew which exit off the interstate we needed to take, but from there, I wasn't sure how to get to T2 where we'd park. Of course I can't read my phone with contacts in, no reading glasses, so the two of us struggled to get one of our phones to map us directions to the place. Actually made it right at 5:00, which was our plan.
Seemed like a mile walk from the parking lot to T2, but managed to chat up with a few others making the same hike. This event has separate transition sites, about 8 miles apart. This event was all about keeping weight down and only bringing absolute necessities along. Therefore, I found my spot in T2, and put shoes, bib, and visor. I filled a gel flask with 4 gels, but decided to place it in T1. I'd use 2 gels on the bike, and 2 on the run. From there, quick stop at the bathroom, wished JC luck, and I headed to the busses to take the Oly participants to T1.
Felt like about a 15-20 minute ride, but I have to say, Rev3 was extremely efficient with the busses. Everyone filled the back rows first, no seats skipped, and slowly filled forward. I was second from the front, so last on, and just about first off. Guy I was sitting to didn't seem chatty, so I just relaxed on the ride, and tried to rest as best as I could.
Made my way to my bike, which was soaking wet from morning dew. Added small bottle on handlebars with regular orange gatorade. I couldn't decide if I wanted to wear socks for the bike/run. I rolled them and put them in my shoes, just in case. Figured I could toss them if I didn't want to wear them. Aero helmet and sun glasses on handlebars. The guy next to me actually had a bike pump, which he let me use. Folks told me to pump to 120, but having never done that before, I kept it down to my usual 100-105.
Found out water temps were 80+ so no wet-suit. Really disappointed. Thought about wearing it anyway, but didn't want to go out in the special "loser" wet-suit wave. Stuffed it into my swim/bike bag, grabbed my goggles and cap, and headed down to dry-bag check before making my war to the beach.
It was fairly chilly outside, so I was really surprised by how warm the water was when I started in (ankle deep only). I hung out chatting with a few folks and tried to take stock of who was out there with me. Recognized a few faces, but I couldn't put names to anyone.
Not being much of a swimmer, decided against showing off my lack of swim skills by not doing a warm-up. I've swam this beach before and know that the first leg of this event is extremely shallow. Figured I could run the first 400m of this swim, and I should be nice and warm at that point. I was in the second wave to go out (which historically means I'll get passed by most of the field during the entire race... However, having trained for this event unlike any before, I was really hoping today would be different.... About 5 minutes before my start, I took in 1 gel pack, my only nutrition since my apple at 3:45am.